After nearly two months of being removed from all Apple Stores, Bose products are finally back on sale just in time for the holiday shopping season.
The expulsion was in response to a lawsuit Bose leveled against Beats Electronics in July. The company accused Beats of infringing certain noise-cancelling technology patents with its Studio and Studio Wireless series headphones. Bose filed its suit less than two months after Apple announced its acquisition of Beats Electronics and Beats Music for $3 billion. The case was ultimately settled out of court under undisclosed terms.
Yesterday, rumors started surfacing that Bose will be returning to Apple Stores and right on cue, a total of three Bose products — the Bose QuietComfort 20i Acoustic Noise Cancelling Headphone, Bose SoundLink Mini Bluetooth Speaker and Bose SoundLink Mini Bluetooth Speaker III — have appeared in the search listings.
Apple is still tightlipped on the return of the products. Rumor also has it that the Apple Offline Stores are rebuilding their inventories in preparation of a wider relaunch, though at this point in-store pickup for all equipment is flagged "Ships to store."
Bose is also the main sponsor of NFL and according to their terms of sponsorship, players and coaches are prohibited from appearing on television wearing headphones made by other manufacturers which cost San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick a fine of $10,000. Partly, this may have also been why Apple expunged Bose from its stores though according to the internet, Apple couldn't handle the audio superiority of Bose. Go Figure!